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Solidarity against online harassment

One of our colleagues has been the target of a sustained campaign of harassment for the past several months. We have decided to publish this statement to publicly declare our support for her, for every member of our organization, and for every member of our community who experiences this harassment. She is not alone and her experience has catalyzed us to action. This statement is a start.

The Tor Project works to create ways to bypass censorship and ensure anonymity on the Internet. Our software is used by journalists, human rights defenders, members of law enforcement, diplomatic officials, and many others. We do high-profile work, and over the past years, many of us have been the targets of online harassment. The current incidents come at a time when suspicion, slander, and threats are endemic to the online world. They create an environment where the malicious feel safe and the misguided feel justified in striking out online with a thousand blows. Under such attacks, many people have suffered — especially women who speak up online. Women who work on Tor are targeted, degraded, minimized and endure serious, frightening threats.

This is the status quo for a large part of the internet. We will not accept it.

We work on anonymity technology because we believe in empowering people. This empowerment is the beginning and a means, not the end of the discussion. Each person who has power to speak freely on the net also has the power to hurt and harm. Merely because one is free to say a thing does not mean that it should be tolerated or considered reasonable. Our commitment to building and promoting strong anonymity technology is absolute. We have decided that it is not enough for us to work to protect the world from snoops and censors; we must also stand up to protect one another from harassment.

It's true that we ourselves are far from perfect. Some of us have written thoughtless things about members of our own community, have judged prematurely, or conflated an idea we hated with the person holding it. Therefore, in categorically condemning the urge to harass, we mean categorically: we will neither tolerate it in others, nor will we accept it among ourselves. We are dedicated to both protecting our employees and colleagues from violence, and trying to foster more positive and mindful behavior online ourselves.

Further, we will no longer hold back out of fear or uncertainty from an opportunity to defend a member of our community online. We write tools to provide online freedom but we don't endorse online or offline abuse. Similarly, in the offline world, we support freedom of speech but we oppose the abuse and harassment of women and others. We know that online harassment is one small piece of the larger struggle that women, people of color, and others face against sexism, racism, homophobia and other bigotry.

This declaration is not the last word, but a beginning: We will not tolerate harassment of our people. We are working within our community to devise ways to concretely support people who suffer from online harassment; this statement is part of that discussion. We hope it will contribute to the larger public conversation about online harassment and we encourage other organizations to sign on to it or write one of their own.

It must be sooo intellectually convenient to read such an article and dismiss it as "yet another feminist rant". No need to work your brain, connect information with each other. Comfy like watching TV:
Did you hear about the spanish gvt trying to prohibit abortion? Do you know why it failed? Social strugle. A feminist fight was led an won.
You have got absolutely no clue what you talk about and wave your prejudices as if you had the theory of relativity in your hands.
I think dee. makes it easy to understand :
"feminism is not one monolithic entity or ideology." Just that could send to oblivion your argument... And it isn't even that hard to understand.
Anyways according to her
"The feminist movement started in the 1920s with the right for women to vote. It got its second wing in the 60s with sexual revolution, and now we're already in the third iteration which actually discredits a lot of the dogma in the first two versions of the movement (like the whole anti-male/female superiority thing and the new-age-bullshit connections). If you think feminism is all about "anti-male propaganda" then you're about 30 years late from the latest developments..."

"Did you hear about the spanish gvt trying to prohibit abortion? Do you know why it failed? Social strugle [sic]. A feminist fight was led an [sic] won."

Ah, yes, of course.

Because, as we all know, if you don't accept an absolute right to rip-out nascent life in the womb, you have to be an evil, anachronistic "misogynist" who is waging "war on women". It's so simple and obvious, isn't it?

Never mind all of the women who oppose abortion. They're all "self-hating" or "unrealized", or they have "internalized centuries of oppressive patriarchy and misogyny", etc. Right?

And you accuse others of being reflexive, simplistic and blinded by "prejudices"?

Meanwhile, what about the increased pressure faced by women and girls, from younger ages than ever, to perform and submit-to acts that are instinctively repulsive to them? (Of course, I speak primarily of anal penetration and fellatio-- acts that also, it must be noted, carry considerable and, in the case of anal penetration, extremely high risk of serious, potentially lethal infection.) Pressure from males who have been incited by a virtually limitless barrage of all manner of pornography and smut; content that goes well-beyond merely objectifying women to subjugating, degrading and humiliating them, often in appallingly brutal ways and even glorifying violence and sadism. Exposure to such corrosive content begins earlier-than-ever and continues throughout the most impressionable and formative years of sexual discovery and development, inevitably exerting a heavy and lasting influence. (The Playboy that thirty-years-ago a thirteen-year-old might only dream of getting his hands-on, looks downright wholesome in comparison to that which, today, a nine-year-old can access with ease.) This is the inexorable reality that the digital age has brought.

What about the ubiquity of advertisements that objectify women as mere sex-objects? On billboards. On buses, subways and taxis. In even the most respected and mainstream web sites and newspapers, magazines and web sites.

How much has been said against of these real threats to and attacks upon women and girls from any of these abortion-mongering, self-declared champions of women?

I disagree. There are some idiots in feminism, as there are idiots everywhere, but you cannot judge a movement by its idiots. I think that feminism is still a very important thing and has nowhere near achieved the goal of equality, even in the western countries.

So, yes, there may be some women (or men) in feminism who may be assholes. But I count myself a feminist, based on the definition of "someone who thinks that women should be treated equally, just like everyone else should be treated equally, regardless of cultural background, skin color, sexual orientation, economic background, country of origin, and so on". And, last time I checked, I did not do any hate-mongering or call for censorship.

I am guilty of judging movements by its idiots as well. The idiots have, in the public eye, taken over gamergate, so now I hate gamergate with a passion, even though there may be some good points somewhere in between all the hate on women and their supporters. I just can't find them. Probably because the only time I checked was on twitter, and that is never a good idea.

So, please, try to stop saying that "feminism is [...] synonymous with misandry and [...] hate-mongering", and I will try to stop saying that gamergate consists only of women-hating idiots (because for all I know, there are sensible people somewhere in there). That way, we can both break out of our respective stigmata. Do we have a deal?

Not the person you're replying to but surely one should lead by example.

If, as you seem to be implying, you are currently saying that these gamergate people are woman-hating idiots because some seem to have issues with feminism why should you expect anyone to listen to you? Be the person you want to see in others.

Well, that is why I wrote the comment the way I wrote it. I explicitly said that I noticed this about myself, and tried to change the way I am thinking. It is not easy to do so, because you always notice the most outspoken idividuals, which, in the case of gamergate, happen to be the idiots who threaten women with murder and rape for daring to express their opinions (which I would not call "having issues with feminism").

So yes, I may not have the moral high ground, and I never claimed to have it. I said "hey, I can see how you arrived at your conclusion that feminism has become a negative force instead of a positive one (I have seen some idiots among feminists as well), but I think that you are missing the point of feminism". So, I actually was being the person I wanted to see in others: Reflective of my own prejudices and trying to overcome them.

Granted, not having these prejudices is definitely better than having them and being aware of them, but if one spends any time on twitter, it is hard not to develop prejudices one way or another, especially on controversial topics like gamergate and feminism, where the most vocal idiots are often the ones you will see the most (and don't get me started on YouTube comments).

May be you are forgetting the fact that Western countries are not the only countries in the world. There are many countries where female children are killed as soon as they are born (or before they are born) because parents consider them as just burdens, because women don't have equal rights. Internet is not just for some specific countries. Even if you don't think you need feminism, a surprisingly large part of the world still do and please try to educate yourself about that before saying things against feminism.

+1
"Women who work on Tor are targeted, degraded, minimized and endure serious, frightening threats. [....] We know that online harassment is one small piece of the larger struggle that women, people of color, and others face against sexism, racism, homophobia and other bigotry"
=> As a white male, I face bigotry from such a post. I never knew the Tor blog was a hub for misandry. Seriously, why tag this "feminism", and why so much emphasis on harassed women as opposed to harassed men? Why not just "harassed people" all along, with no specifics? Unless by some mysterious ways only women are victims of harassment here?

That wiki article is worthy of Joseph Stalin, but that is beside the point. You might want to look into specific, concerted harassment done against Tor developers by an online publication, which had nothing to do with Gamergate and is what is being referred to in the article "in recent months."

This is about harassment and while I can't say I like how the target in this case handled it, I concur with this press release.

I probably wouldn't have seen this if a friend of mine hadn't told me by the way, because none of the people involved in this situation seem to have involvement with Gamergate beyond reuse of material.

Which in turn also means the feminists targeted here most likely aren't part of the "bad ones" who have been antagonizing and outright harassing people for the past three months or so.

(The Wikipedia article you mention is ridiculous. It's more biased than the one on the SJW wiki, of all things. Anyone looking that up should take a good look at the discussion and edit history, and the edit history of the discussion too.)

There is nothing wrong with DoD funding. Money is not suddenly tainted because it passed through the hands of a government organization. Now, if the NSA started funding Tor and everyone was all hush-hush about what specifically the money was going to, *that* would be a time to start worrying. But the fact that the DoD is funding it can be easily explained by the other fact that not all of the American government is trying to "destroy privacy". Certainly some very well funded parts are, but others, like the DoD, want some 3rd world countries to have uncensored access to the internet so they can be exposed to western influences. Not only that, but the DoD (and FBI, etc) regularly *use* Tor to protect themselves, not just to track down Tor users. They have a right to stay safe too, they just have the money to contribute to making that a reality.

If Tor Project stops accepting funding from the DoD, that only makes the NSA-and-friends' jobs easier.

They do not prioritize feminist solidarity. This is about solidarity against online harassment against women *and* all other developers (well, people in general). The blog says women because this incident in question involved a woman, not because they *prioritize* feminism.

Thank you for helping people with controversial opinions to be safe and not silenced. It has personally gave me the ability to live my conscience and for that I am grateful to you all and I am sorry that your developers have been harassed by people for some weird reason.

It seems that as the world gets crazier (or more likely its craziness is finally being revealed) I am faced with almost too many choices: what to support, what to protest, what to work for and where to direct my energy and still maintain my humanity and creativity. All I can do is respond in the moment to what is in front of me and distill my focus to some sort of essential core. The reason I signed this petition is that its intent fits into the core of what moves me: human rights, dignity, freedom of expression, privacy, honesty, truth and kindness. Thank you for creating and posting this petition. ...privateonion

as a minority i really wish you guys didn't limit and qualify your stand against harassment for only women and minorities. it really weakens your message and serves to silence the many men who suffered hate campaigns from online mobs. it would do everyone good to stop with these kind of BS dividing tactics. don't decry the harassment of women developers and minority tech specialists. decry harassment. period.

as long as the torprojects commitment to free speech remains sounds, ill stand with them against all forms of malicious harassment.

Thanks for your support! It's unfortunate that many people interpreted this posting as being targeted specifically at minorities, and as such, excludes certain groups. This statement is about standing up for those who are being attacked. There is nothing in this statement that intentionally prioritizes one group over another. We are all in this together.

"We have decided to publish this statement to publicly declare our support for her, for every member of our organization, and for every member of our community who experiences this harassment. She is not alone and her experience has catalyzed us to action. This statement is a start."

As a male nerd I experienced much harassment from (of course, mostly WHITE*) females and popular kids at school and have been subject to many frightening threats throughout my teenage years. I recall these females verbally insulting me, stealing and rifling through my personal effects and throwing them around the classrooms, physical attacks against my person (unpleasant poking, prodding, and kicking while i try to learn), reducing me to humiliating tears amongst the large crowds of other pupils. This happen many times, with (old, WHITE*) teachers impassively looking the other way.

(Think of me like Napolean Dynamite, except less funny, more reserved, more bullied, slightly greasy. and having less friends.)

I can now only imagine the horrors that can be perpetuated in this modern interconnected world where these grotesque harrassments can be sent instantly from any place on the earth straight into the victim's Twitter feeds and Facebooks, a cacophony of hateful voices booming across the landscape with no way existing to still their ungodly timbre.

Please I hope you are include the male nerd minority in this campaign. #sociallyretardednerdpower

* it was however 99% white school so this may or may not be statisticall significant

(at this later stage in my life I do sometimes find myself trolling online discussions in an attempt to expell my self hatred to the detriment of others, TOR software being very useful for this, however I like to consider this Just Deserts, karma, those big meanies had it coming, etcetera.)

While I applaud the idea, I can't support this statement. We should be supporting a stand against harassment for EVERYONE, and not just because women are being harassed.

This statement is being used to score political points against a specific group of people that are in fact being slandered and harassed for speaking out against a corrupt media. I hope you will consider rewording the statement to include harassment against everyone and not because it concerns "especially women"

With great power comes great responsibility. With anonymity, sadly, often we also get people doing and saying things that they'd never do in person. This isn't about feminism. It's not about games. It's not about research funding. It's about behaving like a grown adult. Speaking anonymously is a mechanism to protect yourself against nation-state harassment (or worse). It's not a free ticket to boorish behavior.

If you've got a beef with any of those things or whatever else, write a blog post, under your real name, and argue your case with precision. There are plenty of sites that will host your work for free, and you, too, can engage in the world of scholarly discourse.

Recent Updates

Hi! There's a new alpha release available for download. If you build Tor from source, you can download the source code for 0.3.3.2-alpha from the usual place on the website. Packages should be available over the coming weeks, with a new alpha Tor Browser release some time in February.

Remember, this is an alpha release: you should only run this if you'd like to find and report more bugs than usual.

Tor 0.3.3.2-alpha is the second alpha in the 0.3.3.x series. It introduces a mechanism to handle the high loads that many relay operators have been reporting recently. It also fixes several bugs in older releases. If this new code proves reliable, we plan to backport it to older supported release series.

Changes in version 0.3.3.2-alpha - 2018-02-10

Major features (denial-of-service mitigation):

Give relays some defenses against the recent network overload. We start with three defenses (default parameters in parentheses). First: if a single client address makes too many concurrent connections (>100), hang up on further connections. Second: if a single client address makes circuits too quickly (more than 3 per second, with an allowed burst of 90) while also having too many connections open (3), refuse new create cells for the next while (1-2 hours). Third: if a client asks to establish a rendezvous point to you directly, ignore the request. These defenses can be manually controlled by new torrc options, but relays will also take guidance from consensus parameters, so there's no need to configure anything manually. Implements ticket 24902.

Major bugfixes (netflow padding):

Stop adding unneeded channel padding right after we finish flushing to a connection that has been trying to flush for many seconds. Instead, treat all partial or complete flushes as activity on the channel, which will defer the time until we need to add padding. This fix should resolve confusing and scary log messages like "Channel padding timeout scheduled 221453ms in the past." Fixes bug 22212; bugfix on 0.3.1.1-alpha.